The clinical and radiological outcome of the rotating hinged knee prostheses in the long-term.
OBJECTIVE
Opinions about hinged knee prostheses vary a lot in different studies. We wanted to examine our series in order to gain long-term information about this kind of knee prosthesis.


METHODS
Forty-eight (18 Kinematic Hinge and 30 Link Endo Model) rotating hinged knee prostheses were implanted in the Hospital of Invalid Foundation. All knees were retrospectively followed up for an average of 66.3 months and examined for clinical or radiological factors indicating the overall outcome.


RESULTS
In the latest review there were 10 patients (20.8%) regarded as having unsatisfactory and 35 patients (79.2%) satisfactory results. Eighty-four per cent of the patients were subjectively satisfied with the operation, mostly because of the painless result.


CONCLUSIONS
Taking into account the very poor initial status of these patients, we recommend the rotating hinged prostheses still to be used in severely instable knees awaiting revision.
Rinta-Kiikka
I
I
Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Tampere, Finland.
Alberty
A
A
Savilahti
S
S
Pajamäki
J
J
Tallroth
K
K
Lindholm
T S
TS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007720:Knee Prosthesis; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome